Time Turner
by darkonesroses
Summary: Rumplestiltskin has been miserable ever since Belle's "death". He decides to turn back time to find her and see if he can make their relationship work out better. But what he finds is not the same Avonlea; it's in ruins. Join me on my slight rip off of the last shrek movie as Rumple finds himself in a time where he never met Belle, and the ogres are still lurk.


"She died."

"...You're lying."

"Am I?"

"...We're done," he dissmissed her, heading towards the door. He refused to let himself cry infront of her. His heart was starting to break. Belle...was dead... The only other person he had truly loved and had loved him back was _dead_. Just thinking about it made his heart crack even more.

"Place is looking dusty, Rumple. Too bac you cna't turn back time," Regina, the queen, commented as she headed out. "You should get a new girl."

He glared at her and she left. He wanted nothing more than to kill her right then. But he needed her to cast that damn curse. That didn't mean he couldn't hate hre unfathomably...

_'Too bad you can't turn back time...'_ Regina's voice echoed in his head as he cried over Belle's chipped cup. It was the only thing he had left of her... If he could turn back time,he could have all of her. The Blue Fairy, however, had told his that htere was no time turner... Then again she had been going o lie to him about the curse, too. Had she lied about the time turner? There had to be somehting. Drying his eyes, he headed for the library, where he had moved his labratory. He had claimed that he had moved it there so he could have better access to the books, but the real reason had been to be closer to Belle, for she was always reading...

His heart ached at the thought of her. He never should have let her go. He should have appologized...and told her he loved her. Maybe, if he found a time turner, he could do that. He could go back to the day he threw her out and make everything right... Or better yet he could go back to the day he met her and start over, get it right from the start. Yes. Yes he would do that. And maybe...just maybe he could turn back time and find his son, make sure he never fell through that portal. He could have a family again, himself, Belle, and Bae...

Rumplestiltskin began his search for a time turner. In hte library, he not only had books from around the world, but from other worlds as well. He spend hours in the library, reading, taking notes, tyring to find a time turner. Finally, after a week of researching, he found something. Looks like he needed to pay a visit to Jefferson again.

"Hog-warts?" Jefferson asked, reading the sign pointing to the castle. "That's the name of it?"

"Apparently," Rumplestiltskin said, rolling his eyes at the silly name. Some people just weren't meant for naming things.

The castle was massive, much bigger than his own or Regina's. And it had deffinately seen better days. There had been a battle, recently. Chunks of stone from the walls were scattered everywhere, no lights in the windows, and there were signs of explosions everywhere. Rumple tried not to care about what had happened here and headed inside, telling Jefferson to wait infront of the entrance.

Using his magic, Rumple located the room where the time turner was, as reappeared there. It wasn't in his best intrest to get lost in this huge place. The room he appeared in had the kind of look of an office, with a dest, and display cases of many different artifacts. There were also pictures of people on the wall. All of whom appeared to be sleeping. Upon closer inspection, they _were _sleeping. They snored. Again, Rumple tired to ignore this as he started searching for the time turner. Not knowing what it looked like, he couldn't conjur it to his hand.

A melodic song interrupted hsi search, and he turned. Behind the dsk sat a magnificent red bird that he had thought was stuffed when he first arrived. It looked at him curiously with it's black eyes and tilted it's head, making another tone that sounded like music.

"Do you know where it is? The time turner?" Rumple asked, half joking. It meerly blinked at him. "Thought not." he said and went back to searching. It was then that the door to the office opened.

Who walked in surprised Rumple a bit. It was a meer boy, no older than seventeen or eighteen. He was reather tall, with the most unruly thick black hair and round glasses infront of his green eyes, and a scar on the right side of his forehead, looking like a lightning bolt. In his hand he held a long want, and he stood there looking at Rumplestiltskin with curiosity, shock, and a little anger.

"Who are you?" the boy asked. Rumple rolled his eyes and went back to the drawer he was searching.

"No one of consiquence, dearie," he said. "I'm meerly looking for somehting."

"Is it this?" the boy held up the wand. Rumple only glanced at it.

"What would I do with a wand? I have plenty at home."

"Because it's the most po9werful want in the world, ofcourse!" the boy was looking at him like he was stupid.

"Well that is tempting, but it's not what I'm looking for," Rumple snapped. "Now if you would shut up, I'd find it quicker and leave."

"...What are you looking for then? And what are you?"

Rumple slammed the drawer back into its place and glared at the boy. This was getting _very _irritating.

"_I_ am _not_ a '_what'_, boy!" he snapped. "And I need the time turner!"

"The time turner? Why do you need it?"

"That's not really your concern, is it, boy?"

"It is if I'm going to help you."

"I don't need your help! I need the time turner to keep myself form making the stupidest mistake of my life!" Rumple was yelling now, but he didn't care. The boy looked at him for a long while and Rumple finally cooled off a bit.

"What happened?" the boy asked cautiously. Rumple sighed and didn't look at him.

"...There was once someone... who I cared about very much..." he said quietly. "But I-I make a mistake and drove her away... About a week ago I... I learned that she died..." Rumplestiltskin held his head in his hands. "I _have _to turn back time, boy," he whispered. "I _have_ to make things right..."

There was silence. The boy only looked at him. Rumple sighed and straightened himself, turning to him. He vaugely reminded him on Bae, and that alone was enough to feel sory about yelling at him.

"I'm sorry, boy..." he said quietly. "I've already lost so much that was important to me. I just want to get somehting back."

The boy still said nothing, so Rumple started to look through another drawer.

"...Accio time turner," the boy said, waving the wand. Rumple looked up at him and saw from a hidden compartment, somthing was flying towards the boy. It was a long chain necklace, attatched to it was a circlet of gold with a tiny hour glass in it's center. The boy informed him how to work it before handing it to the Dark One.

"Thank you, my boy," he said quietly.

"I have an name," he said. "It's Harry Potter."

Rumple smirked a bit before doing his signature bow.

"Rumplestiltskin," he said. The boy looked at him oddly, but didn't say anything. "Now, what shall I give you in return?"

"...Just do my a favor?" Harry asked and Rumple nodded. "When you find her, tyr not to screw it up again."

Rumple let out a laugh and nodded, disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

Rumplestiltskin had never been mor nervous or determined in his life. He was determined to get his Belle back, but he was so nervous about seeing her again. Begore it had been different. He hadn't loved her then, hadn't cared. He had just been looking for a maid because deep down, he _had_ been lonely, like she had said. It was different now. Now he _was_ looking for love.

Rumple stood in the library, holding the time turner in his hands. Should he do this? Really? Yes, he loved her, but should he really change everything for her? Go back in time and change the course of their relationship? The way he had treated her hadn't been fair at all, or atleast at first, but that was what had caused them to fall in love. He looked at the windows, remembering how it had felt to hold her in his arms when he caught her. He looked at the books, remembering her voice when she read to him while he worked. He closed his eyes, remembering her smile, her eyes, her beautiful face...

Yes. Yes he would do this. He wanted this. He wanted her. He would ravel to the ends of the earth to get her back, to get Bae back. He would turn back time to make things right.

Putting the chain around his neck and taking one last look at the room, he swallowed and began to turn the small hourglass towards him. He wasn't exactly sure how many times he was supposed to turn it, but he was trying to keep the math going in his head... Then again he had never been good at math...

When it was the right number, he closed his eyes and let of ot the tiny turning knob. It began to spin, faster and faster. He felt a slight squeeze around him and could hear strange noises, like voices going backwards and the fastest he had ever heard. He thought he heard Belle's voice, but when he opened his eyes, everything had gone still. He was still in the library, but his equipment wasn't there. It hadn't been moved yet. The books were dusty, the windows were dark, and nobody had been there in years. He allowed himself to smile as he headed out for his carriage. He was going to meet his true love for the first time...again.

Something had gone wrong. Terribly, Terribly wrong. Rumplestiltskin could see King Maurice's castle from outside of town, but it was in ruins. Almost half of it was demolished, the other half barely standing. The town was deathly silent, the skies red, as the ogers were much closer than they had been the first time he had met her. Rumple was shocked. What had happened?!

_Where was Belle?_

Rumple hurried to the castle. Jumping over huge blocks of stone that used to be walls, he ran to the room where he had first met her, the war room. What he found crushed his heart. Two of the walls and the roof was gone. The table where the battle tactics had been was smashed. The throne where he had once sat had been partially burned. Dumbfounded, she slowly entered the room. What had happened here? He should have been here the day he first met Belle. Where was she? Where was _he_?

He felt the cold edge of a sword pushed against the back of his neck and he stilled.

"Who are you?" a voice asked behind him, no doubt a looter or thief looking for valuables hidden among the ruins.

"You should back away while you can, dearie," Rumple quipped. "Fooling around with me can lead to nasty, messy things."

"I'll take my chances," the voice said. "Now who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Well then, I guess it's the messy way," Rumple said and he turned and slammed the person up against the wall with his hand on their throat, with a speed as fast as lightning. Suddenly his eyes widened as he saw who's throat he was about to crush. Hair like chocolate, skin like marble, lips like red rose petals and eyes like blue fire.

Belle.


End file.
